


the summer’s gone and i’m alone

by MageOfCole



Series: Children of Hope and Glory [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Force Unleashed - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clone Troopers Deserve Better, Escape, F/M, Filler, Gen, Icelandic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Mando'a, Mind Control, Not Canon Compliant, POV Character of Color, Past Child Abuse, Post-Order 66, Reunions, Side Story, Slavery, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23235568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageOfCole/pseuds/MageOfCole
Summary: Commander CC-1010 is a good soldier, he lives on after the rise of the Empire because he’s useful to have around. CC-2224 was his last brother, his little brother, and now Fox is alone; his mind may be free, but his body isn’t, and he's alone.
Relationships: CC-1010 | Fox & Clone Troopers, CC-1010 | Fox & Galen Marek | Starkiller, CC-2224 | Cody & CC-1010 | Fox, Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox
Series: Children of Hope and Glory [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616737
Comments: 54
Kudos: 419
Collections: Commander Fox, TexWash's Must Reads and Rereads





	the summer’s gone and i’m alone

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [wish there was a treaty](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20841956) by [tiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiend/pseuds/tiend). 



> Inspired by Like a River Runs by Bleachers
> 
> This fic is technically a side story, but can be read as a stand alone if that's what you want.

Commander CC-1010 is a good soldier; he’s quiet, effective, and he follows orders to the letter. He survives where other clones don’t because his usefulness far outweighs the risk of keeping a soldier from decommissioned line around, and by the fifth year after their Emperor’s rise to power and the formation of the Empire, there’s so few troopers left that share his face that the news of CC-2224’s death on a mission feels like a slap to the face.

CC-1010 isn’t sure why he’s so distressed; CC-2224 was just another Stormtrooper, a cog in the machine, but his hands still shake when he reads the report declaring his fellow clone as KIA. His little bro[ **CC-2224** ]ther was supposed to be safe, kept close to Lord Vader’s side. Another clone too useful to decommission, Co[ **CC-2224** ]dy was an effective, talented soldier, a trained ARC Trooper and the former Marshall Commander.

Fo[ **CC-1010** ]x keeps his shaking under control until he’s in the privacy of his own bunk, and the moment he’s alone, the door shut and locked behind him, CC-1010 collapses, cradling his aching head in his hands. They were the last two of their batch, CC-3636 and CC-5052 are gone, long dead, and CC-6454 had been killed during the Clone Wars, and now CC-1010 is alone. CC-2224 - Cody _Kote_ \- was his last brother, his _little_ brother, and now he’s gone, and Fox is the only one to remain.

Something in him breaks that day, and CC-1010 retreats into the darkest corner of Fox’s mind, only being pulled out when Fox needs to hide. Cody’s death means that Vader needs a new Commander assigned to him, and Fox is the poor man chosen. He knows why, Vader’s Fist has the highest mortality rate among the Imperial Army - _wrongwrongwrong_ ; Fox serves the _Republic_ but the Republic is gone - and it’s the best place to send a clone, because it means that Fox will die so that a spoiled little natborn officer can take his place. He’s sent to what was once the 501st Legion, expected to die, but Fox is stubborn. He refuses to die, not when there’s still a fraction of the Republic left that he can protect.

It’s his assignment to Vader’s Fist that makes Fox realize why his _vod’e_ were so protective of their _jetiise_ , because he finds one of his own in the form of Vader’s young apprentice; a stolen child with big, frightened eyes, bruises peeking out from under his black robes. A child that reminds Fox of his youngest brothers, the littlest brothers that he mourns because he knows that the Empire wouldn’t have any use for them beyond being mindless drones to be replaced and disposed of. A child that Fox decides to protect. Little Galen is still young enough to remember his parents - or his father at least - and remembers that it was Vader who killed the man before stealing him away, but his memories are growing foggier with every day that passes under Vader’s thumb, and his bruises are getting darker and more numerous.

For four years, Fox operates under the nose of the Emperor’s enforcer, gathering information, he helps what brothers he can, looks the other way when they break free of whatever it is that’s controlling them. He remembers the dying words of Fives, the trooper from the 501st that he had thought had lost his grip on reality and had started lashing out - the man he had killed. The ARC Trooper had been rambling about how it was bigger than any of them, that he had found something in their heads. He had attacked the Chancellor, and Fox had thought he was doing the right thing, but obviously he _hadn’t_ because the Chancellor had become the Emperor, and the Fett clones were enslaved and disposed of. He and his brothers were used to commit terrible things, they had become mindless weapons, and Fox’s dreams are haunted by the screaming of children as the Jedi Temple burns.

He spends the next four years protecting the _ad’ika_ he claimed as his own, until he can’t any longer. Vader grows more and more aggressive with the boy as he grows, more and more determined to bend and break the child into his own personal weapon, to make him into _Starkiller_ , and Fox suspects that if it weren’t for the comfort and support he offers Galen, the boy would have shattered long ago. Galen isn’t bowing to Vader’s whims, and Fox knows what happens to those who don’t make the cut.

He's seen too many brothers killed for the same reason.

Four years after Fox wakes up, he grabs Galen and he runs.

With his credentials, it’s easy enough to slip past the notice of other Stormtroopers, and steal a transport shuttle. He’s spent _years_ planning this, he has all his bases covered and every step mapped out; disabling the tracker on the ship is child’s play at this point, so is getting off the base with his stolen codes. No one even looks twice at Fox and his willingly kidnapped _ad’ika_ , and the shuttle takes off without a problem.

Fox doesn’t plug in his intended destination immediately, instead piloting them towards the Florrum System; as much as Fox hates the smugglers and pirates and criminals that call the system home, they’re also the only people who would purchase a stolen Imperial shuttle off of a deserting Stormtrooper. The ship goes for a lot, the ability to pass through Imperial spaces without suspicion too good for the smuggler buying it to pass up, and with the credits from the sale, Fox buys a smaller ship. It’s big enough for the two of them, and has warp capabilities, and Fox has enough money afterwards to buy new clothes and travel rations for he and Galen.

“Where are we going?” The nine year old asks, adjusting his new clothes, an odd look on his young face, and Fox reaches over to ruffle brown hair fondly. Galen leans into the hand, the same way he does with every positive touch Fox offers him, and the old soldier gives the boy a small smile - the same smile he had shared with his batchmates when they were cadets.

“Pantora.”

“What’s on Pantora?”

Fox glances at his star chart, remembering kind golden eyes and sweet touches shared in secrecy because if they were discovered it could ruin her career and possibly end his life; Fox is a clone, they weren’t supposed to fall in love - but the gentle and kind Senator Riyo Chuchi made it too easy to love her.

He hadn’t seen Riyo since the fall of the Republic, when non-human Senators were slowly fazed out of the politics of the new Empire, considered as lesser beings by the human majority. Pantora was an Outer Rim moon, unimportant to the Empire with no important natural resources that they couldn’t get elsewhere, so it was ignored in the same way all Outer Rim planets inhabited by non-humans were. Honestly, Fox wasn’t even sure if his former lover was still alive, she had fallen from the Empire’s attention even before Fox had freed himself from the thing controlling him, having been replaced as the Pantoran Senator by Chi Eekway Papanoida near the end of the war.

“Sanctuary, I hope.” He murmurs, then leaves the ship on autopilot to join his _ad’ika_ for training.

It takes another week of warp travel to reach the moon of Pantora, and Fox spends that time alternating between lessons with Galen, checking the star charts, and keeping an ear to the comm frequencies. Their landing on Pantora goes smoothly, and Fox has Galen changing into warmer clothes before they disembark; from what he remembers of his past lover’s words on her planet, it was marshlands for most of a galactic standard year, but winter would hit hard and fast, freezing the moon over in a way similar to that of the planet they orbit. He knows that Pantora is in the middle of their winter, and while Pantorans had evolved to adapt to the cold, humans had not.

Their presence on the planet gets quite a few suspicious stares from the people of Pantora, the two humans sticking out like sore thumbs among the blue-skinned Pantorans, and it’s not long before they find themselves surrounded by glaring guards and being marched towards the nearest governmental building.

Behind the desk, a Pantoran male watches them with a stony expression, studying them with serious golden eyes. Fox knows that he’s not immediately identifiable as a clone; it’s been nine years since they were significant, and Fox has aged eighteen - he looks nothing like the clone troopers of the Clone Wars, hair gray and face lined, lacking any of the characteristic armour that most used to identify them. The Pantoran politician probably wouldn’t be seeing him as anything more than a suspicious human, a possible spy.

Fox opens his mouth, remembering the proper pronunciation of the words Riyo had taught him so many years ago, and speaks in High Pantoran, “ _Við leitum helgidóms_.” _We seek sanctuary_. It’s a traditional Pantoran phrase, once used in the time of their feudal wars, one only a Pantoran would know, and he can tell it draws the politician up short, eyes widening, and within moments, Fox finds himself and Galen bundled away from the first office and into another, much larger one, with another man, this one wearing much grander robes.

“I am Ion Papanoida, Chairman of the Pantoran Assembly.” The Pantoran male says gravely, steepling his hands in front of his face, “Who are you, and how do you know our words?”

Fox bows, perfectly polite and practised, “I am Fox, formerly a Commander of the Republic Army, and of the Coruscant Security Force. This is my…” Fox flounders for a word to use to introduce the _ad’ika_ at his side, he’s never verbally claimed Galen as his own - even if he has in his mind. “ _Ad_ , Galen.” He doesn’t look down to meet Galen’s stunned gaze, though he feels it burning into the side of his face as he places a hand on the top of the boy’s head, and continues to speak. “As for the words; I was taught your language by former Senator Chuchi.”

Chairman Papanoida stares, brows furrowed, “Why would Riyo teach a clone our dialects?”

“We were friends.” Fox says, hiding his unease under the blank mask of a Clone Commander, but _something_ enters the Chairman’s golden eyes.

“You were the secret lover.” He realizes, and Fox can’t quite hide how he startles at the statement, and the Chairman stares at him in understanding, before pulling up a comm. and Fox’s heart soars when he recognizes the voice coming over the line. “Riyo, I’ve got a Fox here looking for sanctuary.”

Within moments of the conversation, the door to Chairman Papanoida’s office is thrown open, and a familiar woman comes bursting through. Golden eyes meet brown, and Fox finds himself staring in mute shock at the face of his lover, nine years older than the last time he had seen her, her hair no longer held in those impractical updos she had used in the Senate, tumbling down her back in a curtain of lavender waves. Her clothes aren’t as fancy as they had once been; a loose pair of dark blue pants tucked into knee-high boots, a long sleeved shirt under a high-necked pale blue poncho. There’s a familiar utility belt wrapped around her waist, one that Fox recognizes as his spare by the chipped dark red paint and a part of him wonders, a little hysterical, if Riyo knows what wearing a piece of his armour _means_.

“ _Fox_.” Riyo whispers, gloved hands rising to her mouth for only a moment, before she’s throwing herself forward, a small body colliding with his own as she loops her arms around his shoulders and crashes their lips together.

For the first time since he had been freed, Fox lets himself crumble.

**Author's Note:**

> I used Icelandic as High Pantoran!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Come Ease My Slumber](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703250) by [starsngalaxys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsngalaxys/pseuds/starsngalaxys)




End file.
